You Can't Say You Can't Play

Rating:
Summary: Great premise, execution lacking
Review: I picked up this book at my daughters' school parent lending library- a school that works hard to implement policies like "you can't say you can't play" (YCSYCP) and it often works. It certainly works inter-age but problems remain between age-mates. I, too, was a rejected child many times and hate to see any child rejected.

The author teaches kindergarten in a Chicago laboratory school and is troubled by the behaviour of children who are excluded and the children who exclude. She explores the idea of setting "YCSYCP" as a rule by talking to her student and to older students. The younger children have a lot of questions about how the policy will work, and the older children think that if it becomes a rule early on in schooling, it has a better chance of working. Interwoven with the text is a story that the author uses to illustrate these points to her kindergarten students.

After reading well into the book, I wondered about the author since the writing seemed so.... simple, and was surprised to read that she had been honored by the MacArthur Foundation for her storytelling in the classroom. I tried to read her interwoven story with a more open mind and found it to help a little in understanding the point of the story.

The changes in the classroom as a result of "YCSYCP" were interesting since the children overall became more inventive and more welcoming, as the author hoped they would. The author was able to define changes she had made in her classroom- like eliminating time-outs- as part and parcel of "YCSYCP". I think the simple language worked for these children and could be a good starting place for even older children. As the children mature in their understanding of what happens when the habit of exclusion is broken, they will be able to step back and examine exclusion and rejection in more philosophical terms.

I think this book and others you can find like it are worthwhile as people search for ways to make schools more humane and functional for all students, not just the favored.

Rating:
Summary: Great premise, execution lacking
Review: I picked up this book at my daughters' school parent lending library- a school that works hard to implement policies like "you can't say you can't play" (YCSYCP) and it often works. It certainly works inter-age but problems remain between age-mates. I, too, was a rejected child many times and hate to see any child rejected.

The author teaches kindergarten in a Chicago laboratory school and is troubled by the behaviour of children who are excluded and the children who exclude. She explores the idea of setting "YCSYCP" as a rule by talking to her student and to older students. The younger children have a lot of questions about how the policy will work, and the older children think that if it becomes a rule early on in schooling, it has a better chance of working. Interwoven with the text is a story that the author uses to illustrate these points to her kindergarten students.

After reading well into the book, I wondered about the author since the writing seemed so.... simple, and was surprised to read that she had been honored by the MacArthur Foundation for her storytelling in the classroom. I tried to read her interwoven story with a more open mind and found it to help a little in understanding the point of the story.

The changes in the classroom as a result of "YCSYCP" were interesting since the children overall became more inventive and more welcoming, as the author hoped they would. The author was able to define changes she had made in her classroom- like eliminating time-outs- as part and parcel of "YCSYCP". I think the simple language worked for these children and could be a good starting place for even older children. As the children mature in their understanding of what happens when the habit of exclusion is broken, they will be able to step back and examine exclusion and rejection in more philosophical terms.

I think this book and others you can find like it are worthwhile as people search for ways to make schools more humane and functional for all students, not just the favored.

Rating:
Summary: good premise, could have improved the execution of the book
Review: I picked up this book at my daughters' school parent lending library- a school that works hard to implement policies like 'you can't say you can't play' (YCSYCP) and it often works. It certainly works inter-age but problems remain between age-mates. I, too, was a rejected child many times and hate to see any child rejected.

The author teaches kindergarten in a Chicago laboratory school and is troubled by the behaviour of children who are excluded and the children who exclude. She explores the idea of setting 'YCSYCP' as a rule by talking to her student and to older students. The younger children have a lot of questions about how the policy will work, and the older children think that if it becomes a rule early on in schooling, it has a better chance of working. Interwoven with the text is a story that the author uses to illustrate these points to her kindergarten students.

After reading well into the book, I wondered about the author since the writing seemed so.... simple, and was surprised to read that she had been honored by the MacArthur Foundation for her storytelling in the classroom. I tried to read her interwoven story with a more open mind and found it to help a little in understanding the point of the story.

The changes in the classroom as a result of 'YCSYCP' were interesting since the children overall became more inventive and more welcoming, as the author hoped they would. The author was able to define changes she had made in her classroom- like eliminating time-outs- as part and parcel of 'YCSYCP'. I think the simple language worked for these children and could be a good starting place for even older children. As the children mature in their understanding of what happens when the habit of exclusion is broken, they will be able to step back and examine exclusion and rejection in more philosophical terms.

I think this book and others you can find like it are worthwhile as people search for ways to make schools more humane and functional for all students, not just the favored.

Rating:
Summary: great book -- really makes you think
Review: I'm a teacher and a mother of a preschooler, and someone who was *seriously* excluded as a child. This book had me in tears. Vivian Paley explores and challenges the commonly accepted practice of letting children exclude each other, showing how socially dominant children use exclusion as a weapon to enforce their dominance and what the negative consequences are for the group as a whole. She proposes a solution that may at first seem idealistic, but is just about building a culture of tolerance and problem-solving, and starting it from the youngest ages. A must-read for any teacher or parent.

Rating:
Summary: Excellent Book!
Review: If you have a pre-k child read this BOOK!

Rating:
Summary: Be objective when reading this book
Review: Mrs. Paley's premise is simple and built on two premises, the classroom is a public institution, and children do not have the right to exclude another child from playing with them. Because school is public territory, privacy does not exist, not in friendships, playtime, or stories. Students must include everyone in the public arena of school. Paley decides that her class needs YCSYCP. Please consider one outcome of YCSYCP.

Gender Typing. We must understand the class. This class exhibits two stages of gender typing; Pre-YCSYCP, and Post YCSYCP. During Pre-YCSYCP, traditional gender typing rules were in effect. Females play with dolls and boys conformed to Berk (2002). Charlie was assertive and aggressive in his play activities-playing Transformer and attacking the bad Transformer. Charlie preferred to play with other males. HE was a play boss and the one of the individuals that justified YCSYCP.

Post YCSYCP, Paley (pg 127) explains that the students switched from traditional roles to cross gender roles. She tells us that the students are no longer looking for exceptions to YCSYCP and now are accepting opposite sex roles. In this situation, cross gender activity should not necessarily be viewed as a positive outcome to YCSYCP. The student's have a need to be part of the group and YCSYCP, which demands total inclusion. As a result, students performed cross-gender activities due to a need to belong rather than a result of higher cognitive thought.

Teacher Influences. Paley's YCSYCP is troublesome because of the the underlying reason for implementation. Paley chose not to work one on one with problem students. Paley would rather listen to the moral wisdom that comes from the mouths of children; therefore, she created one rule to direct the class's behavior. As a result, the students did not learn effective conflict resolution strategies as advocated by Johnson and Johnson (1995) or the application of effective leadership principles. Leadership stresses your responsibility to those with more and less authority than you. Paley is working strictly on a "feel good" emotional level. She does not want children's feelings hurt. She fails to teach students how to handle sticky situations. Here is reality: the mission is first, never accept defeat, and never leave a fellow team member behind. These traits exist within the military and outside of the liberal ideologies. These concepts should be adapted to our classrooms. There is a distinct possibility that some of her former students are now champion homosexual rights or have become vegetarians and joined PETA to fight for animal's right with impassioned vigor.

Paley laments, "Can morality be legislated?" She continues to explain that teaching straddles the moral fence. We should question Mrs. Paley's idea of moral values. Please consider her background, Paley taught at the University of Chicago Laboratory Schools. This progressive school is built upon the influence of educator and philosopher John Dewey. Dewey also has exerted his influence upon society in two other areas. He signed the Humanist Manifesto. This document is a long range plan designed to remove God from our society. If you have never read this document, look it up and realize it's implications upon our society. Dewey also had ties with the early origins of the ACLU, which actively fights against moral behavior based on Christian tradition. Is Mrs. Paley one of the godless? Should we trust Mrs. Paley's moral judgment?

Mrs. Paley has authored several books and has won an award. Please be critical of this book, especially if you are selecting it for a class assignment. She starts with a lackluster short story premise and then proceeds, performing written self-stimulation to extend the tale to a tedious, fatiguing ending. The first rip in reality is excessive use of the narrative form, which makes up >90% of the book with an occassional observation included. The reader is left deciding if these are factual events or just the passing pondering of a humanist practitioner?

The second rip in reality is the incorporation of the "Magpie in fairy land." The fairy tale makes considerable sense if you immediately put Paley into the magpie's place. Unfortunately, this writing device is not needed, annoying and does not strenghten the story just adds excessive filler. This book would benefit from publication as a Readers Digest article-it should be condensed with the "Magpie in fairyland" sequence removed.

Very few things rate five stars. Check out Master of Puppets, Clockwork Orange, Ring World, Opeth, and Death Rides a Horse. Paley is a tepid writer: therefore, this book does not deserve more than one lackluster, tarnished, and monotone, star.

Rating:
Summary: Be objective when reading this book
Review: This leading and innovative educator has fallen short in this effort. Paley talks about the courage to create a classroom where a the children can't say "No" to someone else playing. Unfortunately for the reader, what should have been an excellent published article was needlessly stretched into a full-length book. In order to make it even remotely long enough to be a book, Paley includes a story, which hits the reader over the head with the parallels to the "real" events of Paley's classroom.

Waste not your time reading this book, instead know that if you are a teacher perhaps you should institute a "you can't say you can't play" attitude in your classroom.

Rating:
Summary: Even if You're Not a Teacher, Read This Book
Review: This small, simple book -- and Paley's simple rule of "You can't say you can't play" -- spoke to me in the deep way that only a few books do. Its relevance goes far beyond the kindergarten classroom, which is the setting of Paley's story. The book speaks profoundly of rejection and its consequences -- and proposes a solution ("you can't say . . ."). If you care about children, if you remember being rejected or left out yourself, read this powerful book.